The male supporting character was actually myself.

Fluffy dumpling: (*⊙~⊙)

After its eyes rolled around in black circles for a while, its CPU finally reacted, slapped its paw, and nodded, saying, "That's right, after listening to the host's analysis, the Best Supporting Actor is even more ridiculously wrong."

In comparison, Zhang Xiyue doesn't seem so hateful. Although she instigated wars, she's just a monster without human morals, and it's somewhat understandable that she only considers things from her own perspective.

But Xiao Jiangchen... ugh! Scumbag! A love-struck scumbag who, for the sake of a woman, disregarded the greater good, unleashing bloodshed and causing the people to suffer the ravages of war. He's disgusting!

Thinking of this, the little white cat rubbed its fluffy round face against the cat and showered it with compliments, "My host is still the best! He's sensible, handsome, and kind-hearted, a million times better than the guy in the original story!"

In the original story, he only cared about the female lead and ignored the refugees as background figures, not even giving them a single penny.

The hosts I chose not only gave them a good bath and warm new clothes, but also fed them to their hearts' content!

"These are just small favors," Jiang Chen said with a light laugh, flipping through a couple of pages of the script. "I'll ask about it clearly during dinner later. After that, we need to hurry up and deal with the bandits!"

Suppressing bandits?

The fluffy dumpling was stunned for a moment. "A few people can easily survive if they are settled in the city. Why would the host lead troops to suppress bandits? That's very dangerous!"

He rubbed his fingers and explained in a low voice, "There's a very subtle point in the plot—when you first met Zhang Xiyue and brought her back to your mansion, she was only this tall and this small, right?"

But by early summer, when Zhang Xiyue instigated Xiao Jiangchen to send troops to find and capture Lingquan Daoren, she was described as a tall, slender, and curvaceous beauty.

We've just finished celebrating the Lunar New Year, and it's not even the end of the first month of the lunar calendar yet. In the north, it's just the beginning of spring, and spring season hasn't officially started yet.

Early summer is only three months away from now, a little over a hundred days. How could Zhang Xiyue have changed so much? Don't forget what the refugees just said: she hasn't grown much in the past eighteen years.

Combined with what they said—that Zhang Xiyue ate rats and drank chicken blood—we can draw a conclusion—

“She needs to eat people!” The little white cat finally caught up with its host’s analysis. “In the small mountain village, food is scarce and meat is hard to come by all year round. She is also too small to kill humans and drink their blood, so she can only target animals that are not very capable of resisting.”

Once Zhang Xiyue enters the Marshal's mansion and receives the Marshal's exclusive favor, she'll definitely try every means to eat people to quickly regain her strength!

Jiang Chen gave it a thumbs up and praised, "My little white dog is getting smarter and more capable. It can even analyze the plot now."

"Hehe, I'm always by my host's side, and I'm trying my best to get rid of the 'useless' label." The little white cat blushed slightly and rubbed against his hand, asking, "Then the main system will definitely issue a task, forcing the host to contribute living people as food to the female lead."

"That's why we need to hurry up and suppress the bandits!"

He stroked her hair and smiled slightly. "When I get back today, I'll dismiss all the concubines and the servants who aren't very useful. Then I'll capture the wicked bandits and lock them up in the dungeon, testing Zhang Xiyue's true nature while using them to complete my mission."

The fluffy little ball's eyes lit up as it listened, wagging its big, fluffy tail and meowing excitedly, "Hopefully Zhang Xiyue will be sensible and obediently accept the host's great conditioning and transformation if there are enough villains for her to devour."

Otherwise… hmph, don’t blame us for eliminating this heretic from her!”

Jiang Chen petted the cat while intently going through the plot, trying to deduce where Lingquan Daoren was now.

The fact that they were able to find the male lead ahead of time and secretly join forces with him, and then secretly exile the second male lead first, should be enough to give the scriptwriting team a hard time!

Chapter Three actually asked me to pledge my loyalty?

"He doesn't look anything unusual; he's just an ordinary child."

"Shh! Lieutenant Guo specifically warned us, so don't be careless."

"His arms and legs are so thin and bony, he's not even as strong as my four-year-old granddaughter. To me, he looks like a little kid who was deliberately harassed by those wicked people from that poor, remote place."

"I don't think so. In this day and age, it's not hard to discipline a child, is it? Haven't you heard of starving refugees doing... you know? Look at her eyes, she's clearly not a child, it's terrifying..."

…………

Two robust women, probably in their forties, stood outside the bathroom door whispering to each other, occasionally glancing inside through the curtain.

Zhang Xiyue's unusually short stature meant she couldn't use a regular bathtub, so the shopkeeper brought her a large wooden basin. The hot water steamed and filled the small bathroom with mist.

She moved down a little further, her small, delicate face sinking halfway into the water.

"Gurgle..." A string of bubbles came out of his mouth, the hot air making his eyes a little wet, but it still couldn't warm the coldness in his eyes.

Zhang Xiyue looked through the curtain at the elongated shadows of the two old women outside, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips.

"Ignorant mortals." She sneered inwardly. "If I hadn't been so unlucky as to be reincarnated into some remote mountain village where even rabbits wouldn't poop, my body wouldn't be stuck in a child's state like a freak!"

Despite being a demon, Zhang Xiyue doesn't actually care about the gender of the person occupying her body.

Humans aren't exempt from moral obligations; they can simply find a new body to replace their current one when they get tired of it, and it doesn't really matter whether they're male or female.

In her previous life, to escape the pursuit of Daoist Lingquan, Zhang Xiyue, who was injured, possessed several bodies and kept hiding.

With nowhere else to turn, she reluctantly chose the body of a scruffy old man she would never normally look at. But she was unlucky enough to contract a disease, and her soul was injured, limiting her magic abilities. She could only wait for natural death and reincarnation.

Unexpectedly, he was reborn into a poor family in this life.

So poor that they couldn't even get enough to eat, the demon, having possessed the body of a human infant, needed far more nutrition than a normal baby to grow properly. This poverty worsened Zhang Xiyue's already unhealed injuries, preventing her from growing larger and hindering her ability to use magic.

She was frustrated by being trapped in a vicious cycle from which she couldn't escape.

He tried several times to kill a weaker baby in the village to eat and regain his strength, but those babies were usually guarded by adults. Even when no one was around, every household kept a watchdog, making it easy to be alerted. He was too weak to even subdue a vicious dog, so he could only endure it.

This body has been accumulating magical power for a long time, and it only grows a little bit by occasionally killing harmless small animals such as rats, pheasants, and rabbits to eat their meat and drink their blood.

"Delicious humans..." With the lower half of her face submerged in the water, Zhang Xiyue's overly dark eyes were fixed on the two old women who were still whispering about her. She licked her lips, already eager to taste the blood and flesh!

But she dared not make any rash moves.

If a soul dies again before regaining its strength after reincarnation, it will suffer damage even if it is immortal, making it weaker and harder to return to its peak.

In the steamy bathroom, Zhang Xiyue slowly and meticulously washed her delicate and frail body;

Meanwhile, in the public bathhouse, the refugees were making the most of their time to wash themselves thoroughly. In those days, let alone going to a public bathhouse, even people born in remote mountain villages who were able to live a peaceful life generally didn't bathe in the winter.

Boiling water would require burning a lot of firewood. At most, it's just for washing your face, wiping your body, and washing your feet. Who would be willing to soak in such a large pool of water for a bath?

"General Xiao is such a kind man. Yongning City is indeed a great place. Look how comfortable people are taking a bath here!"

"Hurry up and wash yourselves clean while the water is still hot, because the commander-in-chief is treating us to dinner later."

"Old village chief, do you think the commander-in-chief will arrange jobs for us after he's treated us to a good meal? If we can earn some money in the city, we won't have to beg for food here anymore!"

The old village chief, with a hot towel on his head, curled his lip upon hearing this, "Dream on. What skills do you have to make a living here? Our ancestors have been farmers for generations. We are all good at working in the fields and have plenty of strength. Do you think you can gain a foothold in the city?"

Not to discourage you, but how much does it cost to buy a house in Yongning City?

Without your own place to live, nowhere feels like home!

"What can we do? Our village is already in such a state, and yet bandits still cause trouble... If we weren't forced into this situation, who would willingly leave their own little plot of land?"

"That's right, my parents are buried in the ancestral grave. When I die, I'll have to be buried at their feet."

The old village chief took the hot towel off his head and wiped it, then lowered his voice and said, "There's no place like home. As the old saying goes, it's hard to leave one's homeland. Isn't that true?"

"Later, the commander-in-chief is treating us to dinner. We must seize the opportunity and find a way to get the soldiers of Yunshao City to deal with the bandits. Then we can go home!"

"Hey! There's an old saying that soldiers and bandits are one family. How do you know that the soldiers of Yunshao City aren't the same as the bandits?"

"Are you stupid?" The old village chief casually flicked the other person with a towel, a sly glint in his eyes. "If you had met an ordinary official, you would have had no chance. But you've run into Commander Xiao."

If he were like those corrupt officials, he would have ordered us eliminated long ago to save face.

Since he's making us wash and change clothes and then offering to treat us to a meal, it means he wants to get involved! Commander Xiao is a veteran of battle; he doesn't do those kinds of formalities. If we plead with him properly later, there might be a chance!"

"At least I still have land at home. If I can really wipe out the bandits, I want to go home too..."

…………

With their own agendas in mind, the refugees quickly washed up and changed into clean clothes and shoes. As soon as they stepped out the door, they saw Lieutenant Guo and his soldiers waiting for them.

"Please, everyone, don't be shy, eat slowly." After leading the group to the Fuguiju Restaurant, Deputy Guo led the refugees directly to the second floor he had booked and said loudly, "Later, the Marshal will return to personally oversee the matter of the bandits in the village. Don't worry, with the Marshal in charge, you will definitely not be displaced."

You have all been hungry and thirsty on the journey, so your stomachs are bound to be upset. Therefore, today's meal is just enough to fill you up.

It wasn't that the commander was stingy, but he was worried that eating too much suddenly would upset his stomach. He instructed him to chew slowly and thoroughly, otherwise he might experience indigestion.

A group of refugees were so grateful that they wanted to kneel down and pay homage to Deputy Officer Guo, but he stopped them and made them sit down according to their age.

Hot dishes and meats were served one after another. Everyone, who hadn't eaten much for a long time, didn't care about anything else and ate with gusto, making the hall lively.

In contrast, the atmosphere in the upstairs private rooms was quieter, even somewhat tense.

"How old are you exactly?" Jiang Chen asked, sitting upright in his chair and looking at Zhang Xiyue across the table, who had finished washing up.

The other person changed into a clean, floral-patterned cotton-padded jacket. After washing up, their thin, pale face was unnaturally youthful, but their large, overly dark eyes revealed a cold, adult-like gaze, giving them an eerie quality.

"Didn't you hear what those people said? Eighteen years old!" Her voice was still that of a young, innocent girl, but her face was all smiles, the stark contrast making her inherent eeriness even stronger.

The fluffy little ball couldn't help but shiver and its fur stood on end. "Host, this female lead looks really weird. How about... I go check if there are any bugs in this world and we can fix her together?"

Jiang Chen stared at her large, almost excessively clear black and white eyes, remained silent for a few seconds, then smiled and took the initiative, "Reincarnation must be tough, right? Eighteen years is a struggle just to grow up. It seems you need help."

Zhang Xiyue: Σ(°△°|||)

Who is he?

How could you know about my reincarnation?

Could it be that damned spirit spring again?

No, no, if that guy knew my whereabouts, he would definitely come straight here.

We've ended up in such a sorry state, isn't it all thanks to him?!

What if the spirit spring comes knocking again before I've even recovered my strength...

The thought of possibly being sealed away sent a shiver of panic through her.

"What are you afraid of?" Seeing that his initiative had quickly brought the situation under control, Jiang Chen's lips curled into a sly smile of triumph. "What? You've only been reincarnated once, and you've already become a frightened bird and a coward?"

The blatant mockery enraged Zhang Xiyue.

Humble and weak humans!

It's just my food, how dare you laugh at me?

Never before had she experienced such a series of misfortunes and become so weak. She slammed her fist on the table and coldly shouted, "You mere mortal, how dare you mock me?"

"Duang!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Chen's face turned cold, and he flicked the dagger from his waist with his right hand, pinning it to the side of her small hand. "Watch your tone and attitude."

I know everything about you, otherwise I wouldn't have waited for you to come to me at the city gate. Now I can crush you as easily as crushing an ant.

and……"

He lowered his voice and said coldly, "Even if you reincarnate again, I can still drag you out of the crowd and kill you countless times! Don't you have an immortal soul? Then let's see if your reincarnation is faster or my blade is faster."

For some reason, Zhang Xiyue's heart skipped a beat, and she actually felt a sense of fear when she looked into those bright and sharp eyes.